Abstract

Heterogeneity and
distribution are becoming key properties of bothhigh-performance integrated
circuits and real-time embedded systems.For instance, the embedded
electronics of a modern car includes aheterogeneous mix of
components (ECUs, sensors, actuators...) andnetworks (CAN, FlexRay,
MOST...) that constitutes a distributedarchitecture. In several
application areas, this kind of architecture isthe target for the deployment
of safety-critical embedded software, whichmay account for up to 70% of
the system's development cost.Similarly,
systems-on-chip (SOCs) are increasingly hosting components of variousnature (custom hardware,
programmable units, analog/RF...). In this case, thecombined impact of
interconnect scaling, power dissipation, and processvariations forces designers
to consider the chip as a distributed system.

The key to addressing these
challenges is the development of methodologies basedon formal methods that enable
modularity, flexibility, and reusability in systemdesign. By working at the
system level, I illustrate how these methodologies cantake advantage of the
commonalities that exist between IC design and embeddedsoftware programming.
Specifically, focusing on timing issues in distributedsystem design, I explain the
benefits of combining the theoretical properties ofsynchronous specifications
with the efficiency of heterogeneous implementationswhere the constraints imposed
by synchrony are relaxed. This idea is at thebasis of our work on the
deployment of embedded software on distributedheterogeneous architectures
as well as the theory of latency-insensitive design. In particular, I
describe the latter as the foundation of acorrect-by-construction
methodology that handles the increasing impact ofinterconnect latency on
nanometer technologies and that facilitates the reuse ofintellectual-property cores
for building complex SOCs.

Speaker

Luca Carloni is a
Ph.D. candidate in the EECS Department of the University ofCalifornia at Berkeley
advised by Professor Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli. Luca received his M.S. in
Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences from thethe University of California
at Berkeley and his Laurea degree (B.S.) from the Department of
Electronics, Computer Science, and Systems of the University ofBologna, Italy. His research
interests include design technologies forelectronic systems, digital
integrated circuits, embedded systems design, andcomputer architecture.